Oddity Archive: Episode 232.5 - Ben’s Junk: VuPoint Digital Video Converter

[@TyDean4Real]

Your channel is great dude 👍 I found you about a year ago and it's been a homerun ever since. Looking forward to the next weird VHS/DVD footage you cover.

[@jamtv99]

Strongly agreed!

[@TheLarryburns84]

I've been a fan for a few years and still haven't found a video I didn't like.

[@vwestlife]

Sounds like the audio encoding is using ADPCM compression with an 11.025 kHz sampling rate. That's why it has that grainy, lo-fi sound. The only possible advantage of it being mono is that all the people who connected it to a mono VCR/camcorder using only the left channel plug wouldn't get audio out of the left speaker only!

[@KyleCainNintendoShine]

Imagine dying, only for some tech KZbinr to play clips from your funeral 12 years later because someone forgot to format an SD card That's how I wanna be remembered ngl

[@HappySnoutHour]

I remember my old unit. I got it off of Amazon back around 2011 for $30 for transferring my old VHS tapes and possibly doing video game reviews. In addition to the problems to Ben mentioned of it being low-fi and a pixelated mess, my unit had audio dropouts as well as framerate issues (I could be wrong but I think it did less than 25 FPS). I might be remembering this wrong but I think VuPoint had firmware updates (which I think there were a total of 3 in its lifetime if memory serves me correctly). Long Story short after a couple of days trying my best to get the most out of it I returned it to Amazon and bought some cheap Chinese A/V to PC setup which was featured on vwestlife's channel (the name of which is escaping me at the moment).

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

dude, that was footage from my funeral. you could have at least checked with me via seance to see if I was cool with you using the footage.

[@OddityArchive]

Nice of you to rise from the grave to report that.

[@Mechanicoid]

Interesting device. Back when I had the time and desire to do lots of transfers, I just opted for a stand alone DVD recorder deck. It could at least do S Video which was sufficient for my needs. I feel like this would have been one of those boxes you bought on a whim and got a handful of uses out of it before you moved on to something better.

[@Feelthefelt]

The cutting out of the audio vastly improves that Gallagher footage.

[@altohippiegabber]

I still occasionally use these kind of converters as my old PC doesn't have HDMI and I sometimes stumble upon cool shit when going through my old VHS-tapes and I use this to digitize those

[@MrBonesSrIII]

"I bought a thrift store SD card. Someone's funeral was on it." ~ A Reddit No Sleep Story

[@itogi]

I feel like this is a chinese low-quality camera's circuit board that was shoved into a different enclosure.

[@alleykat6273]

kinda tempted to transfer one of my mtv tapes and compress it to hell for that 2008 youtube vhs rip look

[@brianhebert6152]

Ben should do an Oddity Archive episode on 2000s/early-2010s internet phenomena (e.g. memes of that era, fratire blogs, flash webtoons, etc. etc.)

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

Man, that late 80s Universal logo and music, gets me right in the sentimental feels. Also, RIP Gallagher.

[@montysmith6355]

any VHS camera video work i did for friends or other people i used power cords and battries if it was outside work like out door weddings i carried extra batteries and i still have the vhs cameras 4 of them

[@racecar_spelled_backwards868]

Wow! The video is almost forgivable, but what it does to the audio is inexcusable. The signal is even more compressed than what you hear on an evangelical AM radio station!

[@mightyfilm]

Probably a funeral for some relative they didn't care much for. Otherwise you'd think they'd at LEAST charge the damn thing to full power first.

[@BBC600]

Yes, when I livestreamed my Grandpa's funeral back in 2020 the most basic part was ensuring I situated myself near the electrical outlet so that I could run both my laptop and camera off the AC power.

[@mightyfilm]

@@BBC600 If I could hazard a guess, I have the feeling that whoever filmed this did so out of obligation or some other relative nagging. Either that or whoever was really bad at filming things. Reminds me of the Bob's Burgers Mother's Day episode, actually.

[@spidermunky4283]

That particular Universal logo always reminds me of Back to the Future Part III

[@larrylaffer3246]

Yep the next button just suddenly working is per the norm on this channel. Technology only wants to works when it wants to huh?

[@OddityArchive]

That, or the times that it works in basic testing, but when I do the episode, it croaks (case in point: the Archer Video Processor a few years ago).

[@michaelcarpenter2498]

For the time it was released, it was at least adequate, as long as you can resynch the audio. Now, it is really worth onlyv5.

[@jamesslick4790]

Around the 2010 era I still had an analog 8mm camcorder, I used a Hauppauge WinTV card for digitizing the tapes in order to make DVDs. I never had any sync issues, That would have pissed my right off! I could understand if it was some dollar store "toy" but $100? Hell no! A couple of years later I got a Nikon P7100, Even though it was a compact "still" camera, I did get a mic input (STEREO) and 720 HD video recording, I had only a 4:3 CRT then so I only used 480, But damn that was a HUGE upgrade! I still have the camera!

[@philollenberg]

The 3.5mm to RCA adapter *screams* Sharper Image to me.

[@jamesslick4790]

In all honesty, The SD card is what was WORTH the $5, Although extra cables are nice to have around too. LOL.

[@NerdyMeathead]

Loving the content. Did Techmoan ever reach out to you from your past video? I would imagine that audio processor would be right up his ally

[@OddityArchive]

Nope.

I supposed it's fitting that the battery also died at a funeral.

[@christopheralthouse6378]

Enjoying everything you upload...even the junk! 😅😁 Very entertaining to see just how bad tech can be sometimes...😅☺️

[@Mrshoujo]

Finally someone who pronounces Composite correctly. ASF is Active Stream Format.

[@leonjohnsonjr3331]

I found this unit at the thift store for $5

[@nileterps8051]

Can you tell be what Gorbachev is doing leading a funeral in 2010. Thanks for the awesome work all the time.

[@AutistCat]

Was that Gary Busey? 👀

[@luisreyes1963]

Don't you find it rather macabre to see footage of someone's funeral left behind in an old video device? 😕

[@OddityArchive]

Macabre? No. Careless? Yes.

[@Z3R0FiR3]

Everytime I see the touchstone pictures thing i'm expecting the intro to the movie Pretty Woman to play afterwards lol

[@OddityArchive]

Would you believe that was a Video8 copy of Pretty Woman I was using there? No joke.

[@KylesVideos]

The sound is horrendous!!!

[@albear972]

14:35 Maaaan! Look at all them Caucasian old folks enjoying and having a riot with Gallagher. This obviously must have been after his smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer schtick.

[@internetslackerDOTcom]

Ben, look at it this way: you have access now to a great digital to VHS effect filter!